Trump expresses regret for naming Sessions attorney general

President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Nashville, Tennessee, Tuesday. The president on Wednesday indicated that he regrets appointing Jeff Sessions attorney general. Photo by Rick Musacchio/EPA

May 30 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump expressed regret Wednesday for appointing Jeff Sessions U.S. attorney general, agreeing with a top lawmaker who'd questioned whether the former Alabama senator was the best choice for the job.

The president was replying to House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, who told CBS News Wednesday, "There are lots of really good lawyers in the country, he could have picked somebody else!"

Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican, made the comments while discussing Sessions' recusal of himself from the Russia investigation. The question stemmed from a New York Times report that said Trump had asked Sessions to go back on his decision to recuse.

"I think what the president is doing is expressing frustration that Attorney General Sessions should have shared these reasons for recusal before he took the job, not afterward," Gowdy told CBS This Morning. "If I were the president and I picked someone to be the country's chief law enforcement officer, and they told me later ... I would be frustrated, too."

Trump has criticized Sessions on multiple occasions over his 16-month administration.

Without specifically naming McCain, Trump slammed him for voting down efforts to repeal the Obama-era Affordable Car Act.

"We had it done folks, [the repeal] was done, and then early in the morning somebody turned their hand in the wrong direction," Trump said. "The person that voted that way only talked repeal and replace. He campaigned on it."

Earlier this month, a White House press aide was criticized by news media over a report that said he'd dismissed McCain's opposition to then-CIA director nominee Gina Haspel, noting he is "dying anyway."